Thanks to the samples taken from the crime scene, the experts of the scientific and technical police try to make the clues “talk”. First element, the gas cylinder: it weighed three kilos but its contents raise questions. Traditional gas would have generated a ball of fire then a conflagration of the inn. However, no significant trace was taken from the walls of the main room. At the Toulouse laboratory, analysis of the explosive canister yields interesting details: its manufacturer had placed an explosive mixture of weed killer and sugar in it Second element, analysis of the debris: the canister did not include any system for placing fire. The perpetrator of the attack therefore favored a sufficiently long fuse so that he had time to leave the premises after having lit it. Conclusion: only a qualified chemist could make this explosive cocktail whose objective was to ravage the inn!
Who is behind this attack
At the headquarters of the Research Section, the investigators hardly believe in the terrorist track. No official claim has reached them and moreover, this peaceful country inn has nothing to do with the usual targets of Basque separatists. Another observation: in Béarn, attacks with explosives are extremely rare… But then, who is hiding behind this mysterious expedition? The investigators quickly sweep away the hypothesis of an insurance scam: financially, the restaurant “La Vieille Auberge” is a healthy business, its reservation book for upcoming weddings and banquets is full to bursting; moreover, the building is perfectly maintained. Conclusion of the investigators: the owners of the inn had no interest in ripping off their insurance. We must therefore look elsewhere, but where? There remains the thesis of a settling of accounts, of revenge, even the gratuitous act of a misfit. The mystery thickens little by little.